Physical Signs and Symptoms

By the time a child is two or three-years-old, parents may begin to see signs that their child’s development is lacking. Often, a child that was progressing at a normal rate will all of a sudden show delays in reaching milestones.

Early Indicators 

There is no single personality trait that can be applied to all autistic children. Some parents classify their autistic child as a screamer, while others may explain their child as cooperative and low maintenance. There are some early indicators that parents can watch out for that could be a signal that their child is not developing normally:

• does not respond to his or her name
• does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by the first birthday
• does not speak one word by sixteen months: as many as 50% of those with autism never speak
• avoids eye contact
• after gaining language or social skills, the child loses them or digresses
• does not know how to play with toys: may play with the wheels on the truck, rather than the entire toy
• is attached to one particular object
• excessively lines up toys or objects
• does not smile
• body rocking, hand/arm flapping, or other repetitive behaviors

As some of the above signs may be “normal” to some extent, pediatricians may initially dismiss the signs and advise parents to wait it out. It is advised that if you see any of these signs in your child and you feel that there is something wrong with your child’s development, you should address your concerns with your child’s doctor and ask for an autism evaluation. The quicker you achieve a diagnosis, the sooner your child can benefit from early intervention. Most of the signs are recognized within a child’s first three years.

Play Time

Play is a behavior that is essential to the normal development of children. Most children progress through five developmental stages of play:

• sensory motor play
• manipulative play
• physical play
• social play
• make-believe play

A child diagnosed with autism will exhibit signs of impaired play throughout this development. An autistic child often does not move beyond the sensory motor play stage, and therefore misses out on the stage involving manipulative play. You will observe that children with autism do not always know how to play with a particular toy. They will spin the wheels on a car instead of pushing it along the floor to pretend they are driving it. The play involves manipulating the toy instead of playing with it. 

The reason playtime is so challenging for autistic children is because they often may not pass through the introductory stages of simple manipulation (waving toys) and relational play (stacking toys). Due to repeated failures at play, these children often participate less in unprompted play.

Deficits in Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor skills are those involving large-muscle activities such as walking or throwing a ball. An autistic child may have difficulty walking normally and may instead toe-walk (walking only on their toes). Toe-walking can lead to abnormal development in the calf muscles, so it is a habit that you should try and change.

Without a normal sense for their surroundings, autistic children can become accident prone when participating in gross motor activities. They bump into objects because they lack awareness of their environment. This may take reminders or guidance so that injuries do not occur.

Deficits in Fine Motor Skills

Autistic children will often show delays in the development of fine motor skills. Fine motor skills involve use of small-muscle activities such as drawing or picking up small objects. Due to an autistic child’s need to engage in self-stimulatory or repetitive behaviors, fine motor skills can cause difficulty. Hyposensitive children may engage in behaviors such as hand-flapping or rocking to stay stimulated, making it difficult to focus on tasks such as manipulating small objects. A hypersensitive child may also use self-stimulation to prevent sensory overload. In these situations, these children cannot focus on tasks that require the application of fine motor skills.

Sensory Issues

Children with autism can have severe reactions to sensory stimulation. Their senses can be either hypersensitive or hyposensitive. If a child is hypersensitive to stimulation, they become overwhelmed with even moderate levels of light, sound, or touch. The hypersensitive child may have a tantrum when receiving the lightest touch. A child who is hyposensitive may seek out physical contact, asking for tight hugs. Also, the hyposensitive child may have a high tolerance for pain and may not react even with a significant injury.

Tagged as: Physical Symptoms